I got an LG 47LH50 to replace my old 30″ CRT (sold to a neighbor for $40 after failing to find a friend who wanted it for free). It has most of the features that modern LCDs have these days, like a 120Hz mode (which I don’t like, since it makes things too videoy).

The real differentiator here is Netcast, an LG feature that includes Yahoo! Widgets and Netflix streaming. Since I don’t have an Xbox 360, the built-in Netflix streaming saves me from having another external box. I could have just hooked up my laptop, but Netflix doesn’t stream HD onto computers for whatever reason (probably studio based).

It works pretty well. You can’t add to your queue from the TV, but hopefully that will be updated in the future. Video quality is surprisingly good, especially for titles that are available in HD. Whether an HD title actually streams in HD will depend on your bandwidth at the time, but when you do get it, it can be comparable to cable 720p. On a related note, Vudu streaming could be coming soon too.

The rest of the TV is fine, although the remote kinda sucks. Maybe I should have waited for the more expensive Vizio LED TVs coming in a couple months that also have Netflix streaming and a sweet QWERTY remote control. We didn’t want to be without a TV, though, and the money savings was nice.

I also picked up a Sony HT-CT500 surround bar. A mini-review of that later.